Gabriel Jesus Man City
Gabriel Jesus Man City

Man City, as expected got back on track after their 1-0 loss to Spurs during the opening weekend of the Premier League. In matchweek two, they thumped five goals past Norwich City.

Now Pep Guardiola will be looking to pick up another comfortable win as Manchester City take on Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.

The Gunners are in utter disarray right now so there is a big chance that we can see a similar scoreline from that Norwich game. Man City should not be stumbling against the Gunners but given that Arteta’s players have their backs against the wall, Guardiola should be cautious of a response.

The City boss has only two injury concerns to deal with so he has nothing much to worry about in that department. But we expect to see a few reshuffles as Guardiola is still trying to find his best XI for the season.

Man City team news vs Arsenal:

Aymeric Laporte and Ruben Dias paired up in central defence for the Norwich game but Guardiola is going to show respect to Arsenal’s attacking threat and bring back John Stones into the side.

Benjamin Mendy and Zinchenko are both expected to miss out as Joao Cancelo should keep his place at left-back with Kyle Walker operating on the right-hand side of defence.

 

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Rodri and Fernandinho are playing tandemly in defensive midfield and since the former featured against the Canaries we can expect to see a change this weekend.

Bernardo Silva will once again fall down the pecking order as Jack Grealish is expected to come back into the No 10 role after having played on the left wing last weekend.

Jack Grealish in midfield means Raheem Sterling should get a start in the final third with Ferran Torres set to keep his place as the main centre-forward.

Kevin De Bruyne did not feature against Norwich but he should be available for selection vs the Gunners. But since this is not going to be a big test for Man City, we have a feeling the manager will be reluctant to use the playmaker.

Ideally, Riyad Mahrez should be operating on the right flank but since Arsenal have been really flakey defensively, Pep Guardiola is expected to keep Gabriel Jesus in that position.

Also, Jesus provided two assists in that 5-0 win so it will be unfair to drop him to the bench on Saturday.

Man City predicted line up vs Arsenal:

Predicted Starting Line up(4-3-3): Ederson; John Stones, Dias, Cancelo, Kyle Walker; Fernandinho/Rodri, Gundogan, Jack Grealish; Raheem Sterling, Jesus, Torres.

Man City predicted line up vs AFC

Data courtesy Whoscored.

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Read: Man City vs Arsenal – Prediction, TV information, team news and odds